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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Annie Lo, Staff Attorney at Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
1:13:29
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Annie Lo, representing the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), urges the subcommittee to disapprove the Queen's Future map change and amendment. She expresses concerns about the project's potential to accelerate gentrification and displacement in the area, particularly affecting working-class immigrant communities.
- AALDEF's exit poll found strong opposition to the casino proposal among Asian American voters and Flushing area respondents.
- Lo criticizes the environmental review process for failing to adequately study the potential negative impacts, including indirect commercial and residential displacement.
- She argues that the proposal should not be approved without a more comprehensive examination of socioeconomic conditions as required by SEQRA.
Annie Lo
1:13:29
Good morning, council members, and thank you for the opportunity to testify.
1:13:32
My name is Annie Lowe.
1:13:33
I'm an attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
1:13:37
We are a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, and organizing.
1:13:44
ALDEF has a long history of land use and environmental justice work in New York City to safeguard the right of immigrant communities to live in a safe and affordable environment.
1:13:52
One of our landmark lawsuits established the requirement for environmental review of new developments that may displace low income tenants and small businesses.
1:14:00
Today, ALDEF urges the subcommittee to disapprove the Queen's future map change and amendment.
1:14:05
Committee members in Queen's first reached out to ALDEF with concerns about the project's potential to accelerate gentrification and displacement in the area.
1:14:12
And ALDEF's twenty twenty four exit poll subsequently found that nearly 70% of Asian American voters in New York and nearly half of all respondents from the Flushing area are strongly opposed to the casino proposal.
1:14:24
The Queen's Future project is at its core a proposal to cite a casino and a luxury hotel amidst working class immigrant communities, creating an influx of wealth tourism and an avenue for gambling in communities more vulnerable to gentrification than ever.
1:14:38
The city's own racial equity data reveals that Flushing, Corona, and Elmhurst have the highest risk of displacement out of any neighborhoods in Queens.
1:14:46
These neighborhoods each have non white populations over 94%.
1:14:49
Flushing and Corona have poverty rates over 50%, and their residents are severely rent burdened at rates higher than the city average.
1:14:57
Flushing has recently experienced a surge in luxury condo and new rental unit development, the vast majority of which is market rate, which has ushered in a newer, wealthier population.
1:15:06
As a result, the working class tenants of Flushing and other nearby communities are left more vulnerable to displacement than ever.
1:15:12
However, the environmental review process for the Queen's Future project failed to take the requisite hard look at the project's potential negative impacts, including indirect commercial and residential displacement.
1:15:23
Despite pushback from residents and community groups on the socioeconomic conditions methodology, the EIS adopted a mere quarter mile radius study area, most of which actually just encompassed Flushing Bay, Corona Park, and the Willets Point development.
1:15:37
That means that the potential for displacement of small businesses and tenants is still unstudied nor has the economic impact of the Queen's Future Casino and Hotel's direct competition with small businesses in those communities been fully assessed.
1:15:50
This proposal should not be approved without a hard look taken at these socioeconomic conditions as required by Seeker.
1:15:56
All deaf respectfully request that the subcommittee therefore disapprove the Queen's future map amendment and change.